Tuesday, January 25, 2011

The Zonda is Dead. Long Live the New Pagani Huayra! Official Photos and Details of 700HP Supercar

After a series of leaked magazine shots hit the internet this past weekend, Pagani today officially released its new Huayra supercar model in a rather anticlimactic way. Designed to replace the much-hyped Zonda series, Horacio Pagano's newest creation is named after the Andean god of wind, Aymara Huayra Tata.

The Huayra has a somewhat softer styling and isn't as raw as the Zonda, but the two models do share a similar silhouette. As always, design is a matter of personal taste, so feel free to express your opinion about the car's styling in our comments section below.

Pagani's newcomer also gets a pair of swooping gullwing doors which introduce the driver and passenger to a truly bespoke interior with some impressive details such as the exposed gear selector.

The Italian supercar is built around an all-new carbon-titanium monocoque frame while the body parts are constructed from carbonfiber. Lightweight materials are used throughout the car, with the Huayra tipping the scales at 1,350 kg or 2,976 pounds.

Behind the passenger compartment sits a spanking new 6.0-liter twin-turbocharged V12 engine, specially built for Pagani by Mercedes-Benz's AMG performance division. The 12-cylinder beast churns out more than 700 hp and a torque of over 1000 Nm [737 lb-ft], with exact figures as well as performance numbers to be announced at a later date.

The enormous power and torque of the 12-cylinder engine from Stuttgart is transferred to the rear wheels through a seven-speed sequential gearbox cross and a dual-disc clutch.

While no official prices have been released yet, the Huayra is expected to cost around €1,000,000.